NYC Apartment Building Recycling Initiative

“How To” at 1192 Park Avenue 

Marcia Fowle 

The trash/recycling area on my floor at 1192 Park is just a hop, skip, and jump from my apartment. I don’t have to go outside to the sidewalk with my bundled up and separated trash. I don’t have to drive to a town dump and sort on the spot. Just a few feet from my back door are designated receptacles where I leave my family’s trash and recycling, and it is also the place where my neighbors leave theirs. 

My neighbors and I are confused. We pretty much agree on what mixed paper and cardboard is recycled, and place it into its own container. And we probably agree on non-recyclables that go into the trash-only or “everything else” container lined with a black plastic bag. But what goes into the blue recycling container lined with its distinct clear plastic bag? 

CIVITAS Directors Gorman Reilly and Marcia Fowle with William Waldren, Jr. (1192 Park Avenue Superintendent) and Eve Martinez (DSNY Outreach Specialist). 

All glass jars and jugs; that seems easy. All metals, including hangers, tin foil, and bulk metal; that’s straightforward. All beverage cartons and drink boxes, also fairly easy. But what about plastics? I see all sorts of plastics being tossed into this blue bin from yogurt and deli containers to plastic cups. 

What if my neighbors and I are putting in the wrong plastics? Is it up to our building staff to make sure that this recycling stream is in compliance with the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) rules by sorting through the bin’s contents? I think not; it’s up to each resident. It’s our waste; we should be responsible for disposing of it properly. 

The DSNY is giving us a helping hand through the Apartment Building Recycling Initiative (ABRI), and 1192 Park has signed on. In just one meeting with Outreach Specialist Eve Martinez, our building has made a giant step forward. We learned where we could make improvements in clarifying which items are recycled, especially which plastics, and have ordered new signage to be placed floor by floor in our trash/recycling areas. Each shareholder will receive DSNY’s informative static-cling decal for placement in his apartment, so when in doubt, he can refer to it easily. 

ABRI and Ms. Martinez are scheduling meetings with 1192’s staff and shareholders to discuss not only recycling but also disposal of electronic equipment and safe handling of harmful waste, such as fluorescent bulbs and batteries. In the spring, 1192 hopes to set up a clothing drop-off bin for pickup by the New York Housing Works. Visit www.nyc.gov/refashion for information about this program. 

Now, thanks to ABRI, my neighbors and I will be clear about which plastics to recycle. We used to look for the number. Was it #1 or #2, which the city used to recycle or was it #6, which the city did not? The DSNY has simplified the rules. Plastic jugs and bottles (without caps) with necks smaller than the body of the containers, no matter what the number, are to be put in the blue recycle bin – NO OTHER PLASTICS. New signage will help. 

Ask your apartment building manager and co-op president to follow 1192 Park’s lead by signing up with ARBI and learning how to waste less. 

To learn more about ABRI, contact CIVITAS at (212) 996-0745 or visit: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/recycling/abri.shtml

To read the complete spring 2013 issue of CIVITAS News, visit http://civitasnyc.org/civitas-newsletters/